The Hockey Star’s Remorse

Chapter 22

After getting back to the apartment, I’d barely set down my things before my phone began to ring. I groaned, not having the patience for any human interaction. It didn’t help that the plane ride home had left me exhausted.

With a sigh, I grabbed it from out of my bag. I barely registered the name on the screen before I thoughtlessly picked up the call.

“Hello?” I said, dropping my keys on the counter. I hurried over to the kitchen and opened the fridge. “This is Evie.”

“Hi, Evie,” Timothy’s voice came through and I nearly dropped the bottle of fruit juice I had grabbed.

I placed the container on the counter and cleared my throat. “Timothy. Hi.”

“Sorry, this is sudden. Considering I just saw you,” he said with a laugh. “I was wondering if you had time this week to discuss the case a bit further?”

“Of course.” I grabbed a glass from the pantry and filled it up with the juice. “Just give me a time, and I’ll likely be free.””

He hummed thoughtfully. “Tonight at four sound good? At the firm?”

“Sounds perfect.” I took a sip of my juice and cringed at how squeaky my voice had sounded.

“Great,” he said, then there was a pause. It seemed neither of us was ready to hang up, at least immediately.

Finally, I spoke up, taking advantage of the silence. “Thank you, by the way.”

“Hm?”

“For yesterday. With my panic attack…you helped a lot.”

I couldn’t see his face, but I could envision the smile that he had grown just based on his tone. “It was no problem,” he said gently.

My grip tightened on my phone and I pressed it closer to my ear. “I’ll talk to you later.”

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Chapter 22

rest of your day,” he told

my knees. to my chin. I had just taken my anxiety pills, but

my phone went off again and another text from Bruce flashed across the screen. I opened the text up and saw the full sentence

I’m playing nice for now, but don’t

those pixelated words sat on my screen. There had been several others he sent before that. One of them had come in during

look lovely

not into making calls, bad reception and all, but it’d be nice to hear

Coco. I’m

him to back off, but the other saw

that way.

and clutched it to my chest, steadying my breaths as they grew shallower. Even from afar, Bruce managed to make me feel disgusted with myself. Wherever

consume me, with every twisted fiber of his

The sound alone. made me jump and drop my

kitchen floor and opened the bottom pantries, then pulled out one of the thin skillets. Slowly, I hauled myself up and made my way over to the front door. I took a quick peek through the peep hole, but it wasn’t Bruce on the other side.

the door, surprising the man on the other side. There was barely any

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Chapter 22

porch before being blinded by a bright

myself on the wall. It takes a few blinks before the man is clear again, this time with a whole crowd

He had a camera dangling from his neck and a notebook tucked under his arm. “We

an ‘Evie‘ specifically?”

to. We’ve been looking around trying to find her, but some guy was generous enough to clue us in,” the

having all those eyes watching me from my doorstep. Hesitantly, I stepped forward and looked at

set up on the grass and blankets strewn about. They had even set up a small campfire where

you camping

all about you, Evie. There’s not way that other news station’s going to get the scoop before we do!” He lifted his

serious!” I cried

man leaned toward me, his camera now trained on my face like. an

I knew the press was fierce when it came to a good story, but this was next level in terms of desperation.

it was cleaning or folding laundry. The time eventually came for me to

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Chapter 22